[open-government] Open Data Tooling - should the OKF/others promote a set of tools for open data?

[Tim Davies]

Hello Tim,

Interesting reflections. I'm not sure the issue is so much with having one
standard set of tools, as helping organisations to understand that open data
is not just about the data, but is about creating an eco-system of resources
and support to enable it to be used for positive civic gain.

Suggesting some example tools and resources that could form part of such an
eco-system might be useful - but advocating for one particular package of
tools is probably less helpful (in that people will generally turn to the
tools they have most familiarity with: and intense advocacy for a particular
toolset tends to alienate some groups, or confuse others).

That said, encouraging some principles for the choice of tools and resources
(e.g. they themselves should be open, shared and re-usable) may be useful.

So, we might explore that, in addition to releasing open data, organisations
should think about:

   - Releasing any source code/spreadsheets/how to guides they've written
   for working with particular datasets, and making sure details of these are
   linked to when the dataset is published; ideally licensing such resources to
   allow for their re-use and modifications based on them to be shared freely.

   - Promoting data literacy within the organisation and within partner
   organisations: ideally making use of open learning resources;

   - Openly sharing their own analysis of open data, and linking this to the
   raw datasets; wherever possible, being open about who citizens can contact
   directly to give feedback on a dataset;

   - Developing open routes for users of data to feed back potential
   modifications and updates;

Effectively advocating for open data as the starting point for "open all the
way down", and from that, talking about linux / R / python etc. as possible,
but not the only, tools for that.

Tim

On Sun, Aug 21, 2011 at 8:28 AM, Tim McNamara <tim.mcnamara at okfn.org> wrote:

> Alex Howard (O'Reilly Radar's government) has written a nice
> feature[0] on Chicago city's moves towards open data. There's lots of
> great content in the article. An excerpt I would like to draw people's
> attention to is reproduced below:
>
> "To fully embrace this vision, however, Chicago is going to have to
> build out its data capabilities to become a smarter city. "The first
> step is moving over to a more open platform," said Goldstein. "You
> don't have to make a multi-million-dollar investment to get a fancy
> GUI and something meaningful. If you bring something over to Linux,
> between Python and R you can produce some remarkable outcomes. These
> are some really low-cost solutions.""
>
> One of the things he mentions on Twitter[1] is the interesting
> coincidence of Python & R in Chicago's plans and a post I wrote in
> early August about open data tooling[2]. It has made me wonder if
> there should be calls for a standard set of tools for introducing
> people to the open data. The OKF has been actively supporting
> Python[3]. Is that the right approach?
>
>
> Tim McNamara
> Open Knowledge Foundation
>
>
> [0]
> http://radar.oreilly.com/2011/08/chicago-data-apps-open-government.html
> [1] https://twitter.com/#!/digiphile/status/104973421519179776
> [2] http://notebook.okfn.org/2011/08/01/open-data-tooling/
> [3] http://datapatterns.org/
>
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> open-government at lists.okfn.org
> http://lists.okfn.org/mailman/listinfo/open-government
>



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@timdavies
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